Fear and Loathing in Dark TsukudoCho
by NinMcN
Summary: A Friday in October, 1978. Rookie cop Raidou is sent to investigate at a discotheque to find that there was more to his whiskey than just the alcohol. Contains drug references, a drug trip, and graphic vomit. Raidou/Narumi


Mid-October. A Friday. 1978.

The chill of a sped-up rushing autumn wind left Raidou Kuzunoha's face blush. Chill. Numb. More than anything, in need of a scarf, which he was lacking- and his tie, flapping viciously in the wind like some disco dancer on speed, just wasn't gonna cut it. He was on an errand- no petty errand or nothing like that, no sir, this was big, but it was still an errand he had to do. Narumi'd confronted him just the other night about their lack of leads, and Raidou pardoned himself some time after lunch, photograph in hand, to go snoop out and get the skinney on the situation at one of the discotheques the perp's buddy was known to frequent, The Blitz.

And speak of the devil- Raidou saw the Blitz with its shining lights grow closer, and the on-loan Narumi scooter puttered to a halt. Raidou hopped off and propped it up on a rail before tying it nice and tight. He could already hear Barry White pumping through those over-lit walls- yeah, this was the place. Narumi'd said that the DJ had a curious preference for Earth Wind and Fire and Barry White. He adjusted his tie and made for the club enterance.

The bouncer at the front gave him a scrupulous look before seeing his face- and his sideburns- and let him in without a word.

Just walking in, Raidou was hit with a wave of sweat, funkalicious beats, and drunken mistakes. So much for that autumn chill, he was starting to feel sweat drip down his back after a just a few curious steps in. Raidou was never much of a dancer, so he made his way through the pulsating drunken mass of bodies to the bar at the side.

He grabbed himself a seat at the bar, a lonely seat away from most of the other patrons for the time being.

The bartender was all groove and no bite, a bottom-flared hip kind of guy who probably mixed his martinis like the fellas on the dancefloor jived.

"Yo, officer. What's the buzz?"

All-Groove-n'-No-Bite leaned on the bar. Far more conservative than the flashing lights were. Raidou motioned for a finger of whiskey. Anything, he figured, to get him a little more sociable for the investigation.

"A'ight, I can dig it."

The bartender nodded. His perm wiggled with the nod. Raidou was unwilling to respond.

Afro-Bartender reached back and grabbed a bottle. Raidou, in the meantime, turned around and faced the dancing crowd. He scanned around. There were a couple fellas here who look like they'd gladly let slip a bit of info.. a lady there who was chatting with what looked like her brother, Raidou oughta try her at some point. A man in the corner.. Maybe he knew a thing or two. Raidou had a photo with him, but he wasn't quite sure who it was of, and neither was Narumi. The man looked like someone he'd expect to see here, so hey, it was a start-

Raidou felt somebody take a seat next to him. He heard him order something- "same as this dude". Raidou -tried not to grab his pistol in response to someone gettin that close- turned to get a gander at the guy next to him.

"Howdy, there."

He was leaning on the bar all friendly, in a way that vaguely unnerved Raidou.

Raidou looked back and saw that Afro-Tender had dropped him a drink already, and reached to grab it. He nodded a greeting to the man next to him.

"Don't look like you're going in with no bunny now, eh?"

Raidou stared, trying not to look like a man accused. He took a sip of his whiskey and shook his head. It burned on the way down like white phosphorous in a Viet Cong tunnel.

"Naw? Well, ain't that a shame.."

Raidou avoided that remark. He tried his best not to shoot ill-meant glances.

Somewhere in the back, over the thumping of Afro-American basslines, he heard a phone ring.

"You here for somethin specific, officer?"

Officer?- wait, that's right.. He was still wearing his holster nice and public, without a convenient coat to hide his profession. Sure, he was a rookie officer, but an officer nonetheless.

He didn't talk enough to ever notice that fact.

As for a response, Raidou's response was negligible, if anything. He mumbled a confirmation and took another sip.

Maybe he should confront him with the photo..

No, he decided. He'd do that once the drink was done. He wasn't buzzing enough to talk just yet.

Afro-Bartender came up to the bar, phone in hand. He motioned to Raidou with a quick, almost dismissive swish of his hands.

"Hey, hey officer!"

Raidou turned around.

"You the kid with sideburns?"

He made no move to respond.

The bartender listened in to the phone for a second, before piping up- "Your name Raidou?"

He nodded, and finished off his whiskey with a frown.

"Phone's for you officer." The Afro-'Tender offered him the phone. Raidou took it and mumbled a "thank you".

He picked up the phone and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Heya, Raidou, baby? That you?"

It was Narumi.

"Mmhm."

He noticed that he was already starting to get more vocal than usual. It might be time to go do some investigating on the dancefloor.

"Oh-" He heard a sigh over the phone. "Thank God you're there- Listen, hotcakes, I want you outta there pronto, y'hear?"

He didn't ask why, but thought it. Narumi seemed to pick up on that pretty fast.

"I got intel that one of our suspects knows you're there- he's probably at the joint there with you. Like I said, I want you outta there. Got it?"

"Ten-four," Raidou mumbled in response. That whiskey was clearly doing its job well.

"Glad to hear it. See you later, alligator."

Raidou handed the phone back to the Afro-Bartender without a word. He left a few bits of spare change, nodded a farewell, and grabbed his hat to make leave through the crowd once more.

He squeezed through the breathing mass like a piece of gum squished through teeth, and he was starting to feel all stretched out, too. Weird, he thought- it was only one drink. He went through anyways, stumbling over platform shoes and bell bottoms. He was almost shoved by the mere pressure out the door and into the chill again.

He took a moment to adjust himself, gave a nod to the bodyguard (who nodded back- he'd once had a run-in with this guy before, wasn't _that_ a party) and donned his hat. He left for the scooter, which he saw was still nicely parked in the spot he left it, still tied to the railing. He got onto it, but stopped-

He saw something, in the corner of his eye. He saw something move.

He quickfire grabbed for his gun and aimed at the side-

He looked. Nothing was there.

Sighing, he- shaking too, he just noticed- he put the gun back in its spot. Nothing was there. He looked around cautiously before starting the scooter, trying not to jump when it puttered to a start. He drove and made for a left, what he knew as a faster route. He didn't feel safe whatsoever, a sort of paranoia he was foreign to until now and all he was thinking was along the lines of "get home" and "get home fast".

He zoomed at a considerably though not purposefully leisurely pace. The wind was cold as ever and bit at him like a religious fanatic bit at passer-bys. He slowed to a stop, frantically look left, right, left, right, and floored it forwards-

'til he saw, to the side of him, a floating-

A floating, bloated, snowman- type creature with a jester's hat and a big, toothy smile.

He felt himself slow down, and the scooter along with it. Staring in disbelief at this creature... It was walking along side him now, smiling up at him with light wave. Raidou leaned slightly away from it.

"Hee ho!"

Raidou revved up the scooter and flew as fast as he could.

He looked around frantically- he wasn't going fast enough, he saw, everything still looked slow as molasses, moving like molasses- but that snowman thing was hovering alongside him like it was nothing. Fear reared its ugly head, and his face was showing it, he could feel the muscles contracting, and speaking of molasses, was the scooter sinking? He revved the engine as best he could, but what was this.. was the floor quicksand? He couldn't tell. The scenery continued to blur past him, but the scooter refused to budge out of the molasses pothole. He couldn't get out, he couldn't get out, he couldn't get out.. Raidou decided that the scooter was a lost cause and jammed the handbreaks. The scenery slowed to a halt fluidly, and once Raidou was sure that it'd stopped, he stumbled off the scooter and booked it to the end of the street. All he had to do now was make it a few blocks and he was home. Just a few more blocks..

He was trying his best to run but the street kept stretching away from him, and the houses moving along and- and he couldn't make it. He wouldn't be able to make it. The jester thing next to him had started blowing ice into his face, he was sure. He felt his tears freeze on his face, and he kept running. He was almost home, almost home..

The Ginroukaku building suddenly sped up and right near smacked him in the face had he not stumbled back in time. He leaned on the wall, panting. He was there. Now he just had to make it inside...

The walls began to cave in and he felt a pull along at his side dragging him with it.

Panic ravaged his psyche. He tore away from the wall and stumbled inside- the door was already open, somehow, and Raidou was starting to think that it yawned opened itself just for him to get in to safety.

He shivered and looked back. The door was closed.

Raidou felt himself sink to the floor and he leaned back on the wall- which hopefully wasn't going to eat him now, and when did it get covered in fish scales?- before he felt around him.. The floor was sticky. It was sticky, and he was _sitting_ in it..

Next he knew, something was closing in on him. It was embracing him, or- no, he was pretty sure it was crushing him. He thrashed around immediately to get himself free of whatever it was constricting him, but to no avail- it was carrying him now, he knew, but he looked at the floor.. It had no end. Raidou felt himself scream and scramble up onto whatever was holding him but he was sliding down and whatever was carrying him made no move to get him up. Whatever was carrying him must have wanted to throw him into that pit..

All Raidou could mumble was variations on "no", "don't", and "please" in some order or another. Despite his protest, he was dropped anyways. He let out a cry and curled in on himself.

Something warm was sliding up on his cheek, leaving a trail of slime (or maybe it was his tears, he couldn't tell at this point). It pryed open his mouth and entered. He tried fast to get away but something was holding him back. He couldn't breath. The tentacle was in his mouth and his throat closed in. He gagged, and then retched, and then retched once more before his entire body contracted and his stomach's contents were purged into the abyss, leaving a hot, sticky trail on his chin. The tentacle moved further back in his throat and pressed down. Another wave of contractions hit Raidou, and - god, he couldn't breath and he was choking on whatever was coming out - and once he was certain that he was more than running on empty, he found his mouth object free once again. He was still crying, but there was something on his back, making crawling motions in circles, or- more like rubbing, now that he thought about it. He was shaking madly but tried to take a deep breath anyway, tryin to take comfort in that small gesture. Decades passed and what looked like an arm-width pipe fox curled around him, holding him in place. He leaned towards it and hit a warm, pulsing wall.

He wanted it to be Narumi instead. He made that clear in a shakey, mumbled statement. In response, a quieted deep tone rang out softly to his ears and made waves before him. Behind that, it was punctuated with a soft beat, much like that funky bassline at the disco. Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Raidou looked around himself cautiously.. he was still falling, sure, but the warm air around him wasn't so bad..

Raidou woke up to some soft jazz playing on the radio. He blinked blearily before turning on his side.. He was in a bed. That much was evident.

"Mngnuhh.."

He rolled over onto his side and looked around. His dresser, conservative and nice and square and most importantly not moving, was by the wall. Where it belonged. Rookie officer Kuzunoha found himself in his own room, thankfully. Though, come to think of it, he had no recollection of how he got there. At the very least, he admired the fact that he was in a place he could recognise.

The sound of footsteps brought his attention to the door. He sat up and faced Narumi, carrying a cup of what was probably tea.

"Heya, sweetcheeks. You up?"

He nodded in response.

"Haha, see you're not quite as talkative as you were yesterday," Narumi commented. "Shame you can't be like that a little more often.."

Raidou raised an eyebrow.

"The talkative bit, that is. Just about the only part of last night I can appreciate."

Last night? Raidou did remember the whacky dream he had, but last night, what had happened..? He stopped thinking about that when Narumi piped up once more.

"Couldn't get much done while you were out in space. Think you'd be OK makin a few calls for me today?"

Raidou ditched the "dream" theory after a couple moment's thought. He gave an uncertain look to Narumi.

"No? Hey, you can have the day off if you want, that sound good?"

He nodded.

"Groovy." Narumi set the cup of tea down by the bed. "Still can't figure out how it was you got home, though."

Fatigue ebbed and flowed like the evening tide. Raidou lay back down.

Narumi visibly frowned. "You goin' back to bed already?"

Raidou looked up at him, but made no move to respond.

"Well, I'll be in the office. Call me when I can ask something other than a yes or no question."

He sounded mildly bitter.

"I'll see you later, then, Raidou."

Raidou nodded, disappointment eating at him like the chill was yesterday. He looked at the tea- yeah, it was tea alright- and decided to take a sip. He sipped at the thing 'til it was empty and lay back down, drifting back to sleep...

"Hee ho, officer!"

Sleep was a thing of dreams in Tsukudo-Cho.


End file.
